What we do
Most of a patio job is groundwork, and the stone goes down last. Get the base right and the flags don't rock, dip or lift, whatever the Yorkshire weather throws at them.
We lay porcelain, Indian sandstone and reclaimed Yorkshire stone across Leeds, from a small courtyard to a wraparound off a new extension. It's the same small team on the job, a written and itemised quote before we start, and the garden left clean when we're done.
Materials
Most people arrive knowing the look they're after but not the material. Here's how the three compare on the things that matter. Tap one for its own page, or send us a photo of the house and we'll tell you which we'd lay.
| The choice | PorcelainModern, low upkeep | Indian sandstoneThe all-rounder | Reclaimed YorkshireOur specialism |
|---|---|---|---|
| The look | Sharp and uniform. Crisp edges, colours from pale grey to near-black, almost no variation flag to flag. Reads modern. | Riven natural surface, colour shifts across the pack. Kandla grey through to warm buffs. Traditional, but works on new builds too. | Already weathered. Every flag different, buffs and greys that look a hundred years old the day they go down. |
| How it wears | Barely changes. Won't fade, won't stain, frost-proof. What you lay is what you'll have in twenty years. | Mellows and softens a little with age. Hard-wearing sandstone that copes with Yorkshire winters. | Already proved it lasts. Decades on a mill or a wall before we relaid it, and good for decades more. |
| Upkeep | Lowest of the three. A brush and a wash. No sealing needed. | A wash, and seal it if you want the stain resistance. Sealing is optional. | A wash, and re-point the joints when they need it. Most people let it weather. |
| Price band | £££ | ££ | £££ |
| Best for | Modern extensions and clean-lined gardens. People who want it to look the same for good. | Most Leeds gardens. The good-value all-rounder that suits period houses and new builds alike. | Older stone houses and walled gardens, where new flags would look wrong next to old stone. |
| See Porcelain → | See Indian sandstone → | See Reclaimed Yorkshire → |
Price bands are relative, not quotes: £ is the more affordable end, £££ the premium end. Every patio is priced on site, and there's a note on sealing costs further down.
Why people choose it
A patio that's gone green isn't a failed patio. If the flags are solid underfoot and sat on a decent base, a wash will do more for it than we could, and we'll say so when we come out.
The ones worth rebuilding are the ones that rock, hold water against the house or have dropped away from the door. That's a base problem, and you can't clean a base problem off.
Sound like the garden you've got? Tell us roughly what you're after and we'll price it properly.
Get a written quote →Real jobs
Our own photos, from our own jobs. If we show it, we built it.
Porcelain, crisp and low-maintenance
The old one comes up first
Measured on site and itemised line by line.
Get a written quoteor see more patios in the projects
Riven flags to the door
Whichever stone you pick, the base is the same. Nine times out of ten, the call-out to fix a rocking, cracked patio turns out to be the base, not the stone. This is how we build ours so we never get that call.
We dig out and lay a compacted Type 1 sub-base to the right depth for the ground, not a skim of sand over soil. This is the bit that decides whether a patio stays flat.
Every patio is laid to a fall, usually around 1 in 80, running away from the house. Water goes where it should and never sits against the wall or a door threshold.
Flags go on a full wet mortar bed, buttered and bedded, not five dabs on the corners. Solid support under every flag means no rocking and no hollow flags a year in.
Joints pointed or brush-in jointed to suit the stone. Neat, consistent lines, and pointing that keeps water out of the bed rather than letting it wash through.
Guaranteed for 10 years
The guarantee is on the groundworks: sub-base, full mortar bed, drainage. That's what stops a patio sinking at one end or holding water in the middle, and it's the first thing a cheap quote leaves out. The paving itself carries its manufacturer's warranty, up to ten years on the premium ranges, and we hand you that paperwork too.
Aftercare, honestly
Sealing is optional on most patios and a matter of taste. If you want your patio sealed, budget around £5.50 to £7 per m² (the going market rate). We'll give you a straight recommendation for your stone and how you use the garden.
That's the order we'd work in on yours. The quote itemises every stage before we start.
Get a written quote →What to expect
A patio is a week or two of groundwork with a day or two of stone laying at the end of it. Knowing that up front explains why the quote is what it is, and why the garden looks worse before it looks better.
A new patio is only as good as what's under it, so we lift the old slabs and dig out rather than laying over a tired base.
The finished patio has to sit low enough to stay below the damp course and level under your door thresholds. That decides how much comes out.
Patios are priced by the square metre, but it's the digging, the spoil and the access that swing the number, not the stone you picked.
Common questions
Alternatives
Paving isn't the answer for every garden. If your ground or your budget points somewhere else, we'd rather build you the right thing than the thing you rang about.
Better when: the ground drops away, the levels are awkward, or a patio up against the house would sit too high. A raised deck gets you a level surface for far less groundwork.
The trade-off: it's a frame job rather than groundwork, and the frame underneath is what decides how long it lasts, so it has to be built and ventilated properly.
See Composite decking →Better when: the space is small or an awkward shape where big flags would mean cutting half of them, or you want one surface running from the drive round to the back.
The trade-off: more joint lines than flags, so it reads busier on a small patio, and there's more jointing to keep on top of.
See Block paving →Better when: the garden is on a real slope and what it needs first is a retaining wall and steps, before any paving makes sense.
The trade-off: it's a bigger job than a patio, though it's usually the right order to do things in, and it's the work we're best known for.
See Stone masonry →Still choosing between porcelain, Indian sandstone and reclaimed Yorkshire rather than between surfaces? The comparison table further up this page lines them all up side by side.
A couple of phone photos and rough measurements are plenty to start. We'll come and measure up, talk you through the surface options on the spot, and put a written, itemised, fixed-price quote in your inbox.
Or call 07743 342155